Textile fabric



N. J. ALEXANDER TEXTILE FABRIC June 25, 1968 eats-Sheet 1 N INVENTOR. Abpmw c]. ALflA/VDzSQ BY m'rmwns Original Filed July 6, 1964 June 25, 1968 N. J- ALEXANDER TEXTILE FABRIC 4 Sheets-Sheet Oyiginal Filed July 6,

I I "V INVENTOR. NOWM c/ 4461/44 00 BY 2390/ me/75 June 25, 1 968 N. J. ALEXANDER 3,389,582

TEXTILE FABRIC Original Filed July 6, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 AWOFWGG United States Patent TEXTILE FABRIC Norman J. Alexander, New York, N.Y., assignor to Liberty Fabrics of New York, Inc., New .York,

N.Y., a corporation of New York Continuation of application Ser. No. 380,554, July 6, 1964. This application Dec. 4, 1967, Ser. No. 693,042 4 Claims. (Cl. 66-192) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A warp knit textile fabric having a repetitive base net configuration including in the parallel wales of the base net, inlaid yarns that are alternated between adjacent wales in a repetitive pattern coincident with the repeated base net pattern, said repeat of the inlaid yarns constituted by a succession of inlays then a knitted stitch followed by a crossover portion extending into the adjacent wale to provide increased dimensional stability and tensile strength of the fabric.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 380,554 filed July 6, 1964.

This invention relates to warp knit textile fabrics and in particular to a novel textile fabric construction having especial adaptability for foundation garments, intimate apparel, and the like.

Background of invention In the recent past knitted fabric constructions have been used in foundation garment materials having elastic stretch characteristics in at least one direction, and one type of fabric has been that knitted on Raschel machines in an attempt to provide an acceptable product having enhanced physical properties at a moderate cost. One of the chief difliculties encountered in these prior constructions has been a significant failure to produce a fabric satisfying the minimum necessary aesthetic qualifications for such garments and having sufficient strength and dimensional stability and elasticity to fulfill the vital requirement in such a garment of uniform size retention as well as the required restraining or conforming character, and, in the case of floral and other decorative patterns and the like incorporated into the base or ground net of the fabric, absence of pattern distortion with processing and use.

In such prior constructions where a decorative fabric has been desired for a foundation garment or an intimate apparel garment, it has been found necessary to incorporate in the particular garment, in addition to the aesthetically necessary decorative fabric itself, a reinforcing layer or layers of strengthening material, or to employ other well-known reinforcing techniques, such as bones, bands, braces, wires, and the like, to provide the minimum requirements of physical strength and dimensional stability and further to incorporate in the garment an elastic element of such strength and modulus of elasticity characteristics so as to provide the required restraining or containing characteristics. Another approach has been to applique small segments of the necessary aesthetic decorative fabric to an elastic fabric and to incorporate the composite appliqued fabric into a foundation garment or an intimate apparel garment and in such fashion to provide the required retaining or restraining characteristics.

3,389,532 Patented June 25, 1968 "ice A third approach was to utilize elastic products of the bobbinet machine or the leavers machine the production of which is limited and the production costs of which are prohibitive and thereby having reduced commercial acceptance or market potential.

None of the aforesaid techniques has proven entirely satisfactory for a number of reasons. In the case of numerous types of reinforcing fabrics, in fact most or all of them, additional thickness and hence weight is provided to the garment, with a consequent discomfort to the wearer, including that of increased thermal insulation, decrease of ventilation properties, and greatly decreased degree of maneuverability and freedom of movement.

In addition, in the case of metallic reinforcing structures, corrosion problems enhanced by body fluids such as perspiration and the like have significantly reduced useful life of the garments as well as increased cost of manufacture and hence cost to the purchaser and user.

Summary of invention The present invention is concerned with a solution to the above deficiencies in the above mentioned prior art structures and basically involves the provision of a base or ground net in a Raschel knitted textile fabric having the required aesthetic characteristics and having stretch characteristics in at least one direction that has a novel stitch construction providing enhanced physical properties including breaking strength, shrinkage resistance, tensile strength, distortion resistance, dimensional stability and general fabric integrity.

A knitted textile fabric having increased dimensional stability and tensile strength comprising a base net configuration having yarns in parallel wales being looped upon themselves for at least three successive loops and then crossing over into the adjacent wales for a similar number of loops and then reversing into the previous wale, said looped pattern being repetitive for the length of the fabric and being symmetrical among the several base yarns, and additional yarn inlaid into each base yarn for a predetermined number of courses, then knitted into a stitch with the base yarn and then being crossed over into the adjacent Wale and inlaid and knitted into the base yarn in said adjacent wale in the same manner and then being shogged back into the previous Wale, said inlay and stitch pattern being repetitive throughout the fabric and being coincident with the repetitive pattern of the base yarns and elastic yarns incorporated into said wales.

Description of the drawings Other embodiments, objects and features of the invention will become apparent in the following specification and claims and in the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a conventional prior art hexagonal hole lace knit stitch construction;

FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of the extended construction of the pattern of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is the pattern chain diagram for FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of a conventional prior art elastic stitch net construction;

FIG. 5 is the pattern chain diagram for FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a schematic representation of the preferred six course construction according to the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is the pattern chain diagram for FIG. 6.

Description of the preferred embodiment Referring now to the drawings, FIGS. 1 and 2 are schematic representations of the pattern characteristics of the net of a standard Raschel lace fabric which has already been described in my Patent 3,070,870 dated Jan.

1, 1963. Arrow A designates the direction of the plurality of wales of the base or ground net and arrow B designates the direction of the plurality of courses of the net. For example, in a 24-bar Raschel machine the ground net would be formed by threads or yarns 20, 21 knitted on a pair of front bars on the machine, e.g. No. 1 bar and No. 2 bar, respectively. In FIG. 1 can be seen the standard repetitive stitch pattern comprised of yarn 20, being looped on itself in one wale 22 for three successive loops, then being shogged into the next adjacent wale 23 and then looped on itself for three successive loops, and finally being shogged back into the original wale 22, thereby establishing the repeat. At the shogging point 24 the yarn 20 is interlooped with the next adjacent yarn 25 before the latter is similarly shogged into its next adjacent wale 26, thereby connecting all such yarns into a fabric network.

Yarns 21 of No. 2 bar are inlaid into the No. 1 bar yarns 20, 25, etc. as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, following the respective yarns in their above described alternating pattern. FIG. 2 shows the net pattern expanded into its normal condition with its polygonal or hexagonal net holes 27 prominent.

FIG. 3 shows the pattern chain diagram for the FIGS. 1 and 2 net construction representing the movement of No. 1. bar 28 and No. 2 bar 29 during the knitting of one repeat. The pattern chain link numbers (or link heights) are as follows for the FIG. 3 pattern:

TABLE I Bar No. 1: 2-0, 2, 2-0, 2-4, 4-2, 24 Bar No. 2: 00, 22, 00, 4-4, 22, 4-4

FIG. 4 shows schematically an elastic stitch construction wherein a back bar on the Raschel machine, for example bar No. 24 (in a 24-bar machine), incorporates a straight up set of elastic yarns 30 of spandex or the like into each wale 31, the fabric net otherwise being the same as the net of FIGS. 1 and 2. In this fashion development of an extended width fabric (i.e. greater than the width of the machine) is inhibited.

FIG. shows the pattern chain diagram for the FIG. 4 net construction, representing the movement of No. 1 bar 28 and No. 2 bar 29 and No. 24 bar 32 during the knitting of one repeat. The chain link numbers for such pattern are as follows:

TABLE II Bar No. 1: 20, 0-2, 2-0, 2-4, 4-2, 2-4 Bar No. 2: 4-4, 22, 4-4, 00, 2-2, 00 Bar N0. 24: 00, 22, 00, 2-2, 00, 2-2

The problems encountered with the FIG. 4 construction have been: relatively low strength, inferior dimensional stability, poor shrinkage characteristics and all of the other undesirable attributes enumerated above.

The embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 may be characterized as a six-course construction in which the bar No. 1 yarn 46 are caused to be knitted in all six courses of the repeat, i.e. alternating groups of three successive courses, 47, 48, 49, in adjacent wales 50, 51 and bar No. 2 yarn 52 is caused to inlay with the next loops 53, 54 of the bar No. 1 yarn 46 for two courses 55, 56 in wale 50, then knit in conjunction with the loops 49 of the bar No. 1 yarn 46 on the next course and then to shogg to the next adjacent wale 51 and then inlay with the loops 47, 48 of the bar No. l yarn 46 for two successive courses, then knit in conjunction with the next loop 49 of the bar No. 1 yarn 46 and in this fashion form the stitch repeat as shown in FIG. 6. Elastic yarn 57 is inlaid into each wale as shown. The chain stitch diagram of TABLE IV 1 Shrinkage 2 Lateral Breaking Width, percent Length 3 Strength, Pounds 1 Fig. 4 l5 0 20 Fig. 6 6-8 0 25 Fig. 9 2-4 0 38 1 Based on use of conventional raw materials, e.g. 40 denier continuous filtament nylon as the hard fiber and 280 denier spandex as the elastic S tandard ASIM method.

3 This length indicates total relaxation in finishing.

The unbalanced nature of the stitch structure in FIG. 4 is such that its fiber shrinkage characteristics are nonuniform and uncommercially high. Furthermore the unbalanced nature provides low breaking strength which is marginal, and unacceptable for commercial use. FIG. 6 produces a commercially acceptable intimate apparel fabric.

In manufacture of fabrics incorporating the above described novel ground net pattern, predeterminned degrees of tensile strength and modulus of elasticity, and hence degree of elasticity, may be achieved by adjustment and control of the unit yarn feed-in per stitch from each of the bars involved in the ground net pattern. Low modulus, high stretch fabrics are achieved by high relative feed-in from the elastic warp through the elastic bar into related low stitch count per inch constructions on the knitting machine. Higher modulus of elasticity fabrics with similar degree of elasticity are achieved by reducing the elastic thread run-in. High modulus, low stretch fabrics are made by low elastic thread feed-in into relatively high stitch count per inch constructions on the knitting machine. The combinations of the above offer an infinite variety of elastic cloth possibilities to the fabric producer to serve the broadest variety of applications. Preselection of the feed-in can be determined from the stress-strain curve of the respective elastic fibers used in the construction.

Since contemporary elastic fibers such as spandex fibers do not obey the straight line curve of the ideal elastic body, selection of the feed-in should be made in that position of the curve which substantially obeys Hookes Law. It will be found that that position on the curve is substantially linear and the increment in modulus is directly related to the increase in stress and strain. Care should be taken not to operate outside of the linear or non-Hookean area of the curve. Transmission of the increment in modulus of elasticity to the fabric is achieved by control of the feed-in of the preselected hard fiber yarn per stitch which serves also to effect control of the ultimate elastic limit of the fabric. Hence the permutations of high or low elastic limit, high or low modulus of elasticity, high or low fabric density, are available as desired. All of the above variations in techniques are without appreciable detriment to the dimensional stability or tensile strength of the fabric and the stitch construction with the above elastic technology provides the desired ultimate product.

Segmented polyurethanes, i.e. spandex being responsive to heat setting provide an additional parameter of modulus control and elastic limit control for the above process techniques, whereby the above mentioned permutations may be enhanced.

The fabric of the invention has a wide variety of end uses, e.g. swimwear, gloves, slippers, hosiery, foundation garments, intimate apparel, and any clothing article demanding an aesthetically attractive restraining or containing fabric. While certain embodiments have been shown and described herein it is to be understood that changes and additions may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. A knitted fabric having enhanced properties including increased dimensional stability and tensile strength comprising a base net configuration including at least two base yarns being knitted in side by side relationship in parallel wales, one of said base yarns being looped upon itself for at least three successive loops in one of said wales and then having a crossover portion extending into the adjacent wale, said yarn then being looped upon itself for at least three successive loops in the latter said wale, another of said base yarns being looped upon itself in a similar fashion in the adjacent wale to form a configuration mating with the pattern provided by the first said base yarn in interlooped relationship therewith, respective additional yarns each being inlaid into a wale of the aforesaid base yarns for a predetermined number of courses then knitted into a stitch therewith on the next course and then having a crossover portion extending into the adjacent wale and then being inlaid into the base yarn in said adjacent wale and knitted into a stitch therewith in the same manner as described for the preceding wale and then having a crossover portion extending back into the first mentioned wale wherein such inlay and stitch pattern is repeated, and elastic yarns incorporated into said wales.

2. A knitted fabric having enhanced properties including increased dimensional stability and tensile strength comprising a base net configuration having a six course construction, said construction including at least two base yarns being knitted in side by side relationship in parallel wales, one of said base yarns being looped upon itself for three successive loops in one of said wales and then having a crossover portion extending into the adjacent wale, said yarn then being looped upon itself for three successive loops in the latter said wale, another of said base yarns being looped upon itself in a similar fashion in the adjacent wale to form a configuration mating with the pattern provided by the first said base yarn in interlooped relationship therewith, respective additional yarns each being inlaid into a wale of one of the aforesaid base yarns for two courses then knitted into a stitch therewith on the next course and then having a crossover portion extending into the adjacent wale and then being inlaid into the base yarn in said adjacent wale and knitted into a stitch therewith in the same manner as described for the preceding wale and then having a crossover portion extending back into the first mentioned wale wherein such inlay and stitch pattern is repeated, and elastic yarns incorporated into said wales.

3. A knitted fabric having enhanced properties including increased dimensional stability and tensile strength comprising a base net configuration having a six course construction, said construction including at least two base yarns being knitted in side by side relationship in parallel wales, one of said base yarns being looped upon itself for three successive loops in one of said wales and then having a crossover portion extending into the adjacent wale, said yarn then being looped upon itself for three successive loops in the latter said wale, another of said base yarns being looped upon itself in a similar fashion in the adjacent wale to form a configuration mating with the pattern provided by the first said base yarn in interlooped relationship therewith, respective additional yarns and each being inlaid into a wale of one of the aforesaid base yarns for two courses then knitted into a stitch therewith on the next course and then having a crossover portion extending into the adjacent wale and then being inlaid into the base yarn in said adjacent wale and knitted into a stitch therewith in the same manner as described for the preceding wale and then having a crossover portion extending back into the first mentioned wale wherein such inlay and stitch pattern is repeated, the aforesaid additional yarns in adjacent wales having opposed symmetrical patterns relative to one another, and elastic yarns incorporated into said wales.

4. In the knitted fabric of claim 3, the repetitive pattern of said additional yarns being coincident with the repetitive pattern of said base yarns.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,263,787 11/ 1941 Saiferson 66-192 XR 3,011,325 12/1961 Elsas et al 66--192 XR FOREIGN PATENTS 1,174,694 11/1958 France.

898,346 11/ 1953 Germany. 743,753 1/ 1956 Great Britain. 871,866 7/ 1961 Great Britain.

OTHER REFERENCES German printed application No. 1,095,980, Halstenbach et al. (2), 12/60, class 66-192.

WM. CARTER REYNOLDS, Primary Examiner. 

